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Transportation through time.Wed, 01 Nov 2017 17:09:11 +0000enhourly1http://wordpress.com/https://s2.wp.com/i/buttonw-com.pngMoving Historyhttps://transporthistory.wordpress.com
Call for papers – – – RAILWAYS IN FIRST WORLD WARhttps://transporthistory.wordpress.com/2017/11/01/call-for-papers-railways-in-first-world-war/
https://transporthistory.wordpress.com/2017/11/01/call-for-papers-railways-in-first-world-war/#respondWed, 01 Nov 2017 17:09:05 +0000http://transporthistory.wordpress.com/?p=1345]]>RAILWAYS IN FIRST WORLD WAR
8th International Conference on Railway-history organized by the International Railway History Association / Association Internationale d’Histoire des Chemins de Fer / Asociación Internacional de Historia Ferroviaria and supported by
· UIC / International Union of Railways
· Service historique de la Défense (France)
· SNCF / French National Railways (France)

The Confefence will be held at the National University of Public Service in Budapest from November 28th-December 1st, 2018.

We contend that the global academic and public understandings of the First World War must be considered seriously deficient until the wartime histories of the national railway systems of at least the major European belligerent powers have been subjected to rigorous academic scrutiny. The reason is that railway transport was fundamentally important both in the outbreak of the war (by enabling the mobilisation of millions of men within just a few weeks, and as the foundation of the Schlieffen Plan) and for the continuation of the conflict for over four years (there was no other means to cope quickly with the huge volume of long-distance shipments of equipment and food supplies to the trenches not to mention their central place on the home fronts). Contemporaries certainly appreciated this importance, which explains the appearance of several studies in the inter-war years, but there has been very little research indeed since 1945, notwithstanding the potential to cast fresh light on every major aspect of the conflict. Building on several projects that have now started on the wartime Belgian, British and Russian railways, we aim with this conference to develop a new multi-national collaboration between academia and the railway technology heritage sector which would help raise public as well as academic awareness and understanding and which would have the potential to continue beyond the conference to deliver the more developed histories on the field of transport history in wartime of variou national systems that are so badly needed.

Main topics to be discussed will be:

• general role of railways for the preparation of the war, mobilisation and during the war including the relationship to national administrations
• the role of railways for military planning and strategic decisions
• the role of densities of railway networks and traffic conditions in different countries at war
• the role of railwaymen
• technological and technical questions: wear of the rolling stock, destruction of tracks, bridges, innovations aso..
• the relationships between the various means of transport, i. e. the role of lorries
• iconographic, artistic and psychological aspects
• changes in the relationship between rail- and roadtransport in the time of post-war recovery
Conference language will be English.

The conference is open to all who are interested in railway history and interactions between railways and World War I, in particular from countries that were involved in WWI, including museums, archives and other institutions operating in preserving the memory of war.

Please send in proposals of max. one page and a short curriculum vitae to: Prof. Dr. Andrea Giuntini

We offer up to 300 Euros for accomodation and travel expenses for contributors whose papers have been accepted by the Scientific Committee.

]]>https://transporthistory.wordpress.com/2017/11/01/call-for-papers-railways-in-first-world-war/feed/0pierrebarrieauhttps://transporthistory.wordpress.com/2017/09/17/1335/
https://transporthistory.wordpress.com/2017/09/17/1335/#respondSun, 17 Sep 2017 20:17:34 +0000http://transporthistory.wordpress.com/?p=1335]]>Massimo Moraglio’s Driving Modernity : Technology, Experts, Politics and Fascist Motorways, 1922-1943 is a great read on the history of Italy’s Autostrade network and the relationship between fascists, technology and highways.

The author presents this convoluted history adequately, although greater organizational clarity would have been a boon. The text is particularly good at illustrating the predatory aspects of Gilded Age capitalism. These arose from the inescapable conflict between the agents charged with the day-to-day management of these large scale enterprises and the capital-supplying principals.

The author aids the reader with brief biographical sketches of the many participants in the drama. In addition, there is a table of the hodgepodge of acronyms scattered across the pages. A timeline of significant events in the history of the Bee Line and flow charts outlining the history of consolidations are also included.

There are two final noteworthy features. The first, of greatest interest to railroad enthusiasts, is the abundant images of railroads and particularly locomotives. The feature of more general interest is the numerous maps, some specifically commissioned for this project. These maps highlight the routes and natural connections among the various participants.

Abstract: “Historic vehicles (HVs) are the heritage of road transport that have surprisingly received little attention in the academic literature. This study presents an overview of the literature on HVs, focusing on the three topics that dominate the policy debate on transport: environmental, safety and congestion impacts. We observed that polluting emissions of HVs are per kilometre much higher (often a factor 5 or more) than those of moderns vehicles. The annual average mileage per vehicle per year of HVs is much lower than other vehicles. The lower active and passive safety levels of HVs are compensated by the way these vehicles are driven, resulting in the risk factors per kilometre being roughly equal or lower than other vehicles. The contribution of HVs to congestion is negligible. However, the transport policy discourse is divided on the topic of HVs. More comprehensive and effective laws and regulation are needed to protect this aspect of the heritage of road transport whilst concurrently avoiding or limiting the problems caused by them.”

From the introduction to the paper: “[T]he aim of this paper is to reduce the gap in academic literature on HVs by focusing on three important research questions: (1) What information on HV ownership and use is available from reliable sources?, (2) what is the relative and absolute impact of HVs to environmental, safety and congestion problems (three areas that heavily dominate the policy debate on transport)? and (3) What are the contributions of HVs to the economy and society?”